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JOY (2024)

JOY (2024)

An effective, if a bit tame, historical drama celebrating the discovery of IVF

7.0

Movie

United Kingdom
English
Drama
2024
BEN TAYLOR
Adrian Lukis, Anastasia Hille, Ashna Rabheru
115 min

TLDR

Thinking about the eight million people that wouldn’t have been born without this method.

What it's about

Cambridge, late 1960s-1970s. In an effort to solve infertility in women, nurse Jean Purdy and Dr. Robert Edwards team up with surgeon Patrick Steptoe to create a new procedure that allows women to fertilize an egg outside the womb, though they face opposition from the church and their community.

The take

Given the current tension around reproductive health issues, it should be no surprise that Joy might feel rather tame. To a certain extent, it is, as in vitro fertilization doesn’t have the same controversies compared to abortion. But it does hold some of the same questions, asked through straightforward dialogue from screenwriter Jack Thorne and an effective, if a bit by-the-numbers approach from director Ben Taylor. With strong performances from Bill Nighy, Thomasin McKenzie, and James Norton, Joy does have a tinge of schmaltz in its approach, but nevertheless celebrates the real life creators and the believers that made IVF all possible, in spite of the fear surrounding the then-new technology.

What stands out

The performances make this film.

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